Mangia, who runs Ted Mangia & Son Construction Co., spent weeks examining sand at local
masonry suppliers. He estimates that he hauled 10 types of sand in 5-gallon buckets back to his
home before finding the ideal material — volleyball pit sand from a quarry in Beaver, Ohio.

When delivery day arrived, he was like, well, a kid in a sandbox.

“He couldn’t wait to get home and play in the sand,” his wife said.

On warm summer days, while other 53-year-olds hit the golf course, hosted barbecues or puttered
around the lawn, Mangia could be found on his beach, shaping his masterpiece: a 6-foot-tall church,
complete with a sanctuary and cradle, a four-tiered bell tower, and a front railing — which for a
sand sculptor isn’t as simple as it seems.

Mangia has built three of the churches, each time refining the design a bit for the contest,
which allows “advanced amateurs” such as him 16 hours across three days to shape 7 tons of sand.
The sculpting time comes after three hours of packing sand in forms — what experts call the
"pound-up,” a critical step in the process.

Given his profession, Mangia leans toward sculpting buildings. He worries about competing
against sculptors with a more artistic bent, although he hopes some of his church’s engineering
features — such as the carved bell tower — will impress the judges.

He will take to Florida an assortment of tools. Most of them are intended for precision
clay-sculpting, although some, such as a tube for blowing away loose sand, are specific to his
craft.

He will compete against nine other sculptors, including another Ohioan — Alan Eakle of
Sugarcreek.

Northern states such as Ohio are hot spots for sand sculpting, said Bill Knight, president of
the Sand Lovers, a Fort Myers company that organizes contests such as the Florida State
Championships.

“There are some very talented sculptors there because they often do ice and snow in the winter,”
Knight said.

Two Ohioans — Carl Jara of Cleveland, who has won nine world championship sculpting contests,
and Laurie Arntz-Tournoux of Louisville — will compete with 16 other contestants in the master’s
competition held before the advanced amateur round.

Judging can be as tricky as the contests themselves. Sand sculptures, as a quick glance around
the Internet reveals, can be as amazing as any art — maybe more so because they’re marvels of both
imagination and engineering.

“I can tell you all day long that there’s the architectural component, there’s the cut-throughs,
the overhangs,” Knight said, “but it really comes down to the wow factor.”

The material, as well as the ephemeral nature of the craft, separates sand sculpting from other
arts.

“It’s amazing what you can do with sand,” Mangia said, “although a little bit of wind and rain
and it can be destroyed in a second.”

Although master sand sculptors can craft a building for company displays, festivals, weddings or
other events, Mangia has no such ambitions — but he wouldn’t mind doing more with his hobby
someday.

“That would be my goal — to make something like this for a wedding,” Mangia said while recently
sculpting the “stones” on the side of his church.

In the meantime, he’s content on his private beach.

“Most competitors have their own sandbox unless they live very, very close to the beach,” Knight
said. “But when Marc sent me pictures of his sandbox, I told him, ‘You built the Taj Mahal of sand
pits.’ It’s beautiful.”